I took off early today to go buck hunting. I get to the drainage I wanted to look around in, as I heard they just opened the locked gate. I hoped the word about the gate opening wouldnt be out yet and I would have the area to myself. That was wishful thinking. There were trucks everywhere running the roads and the fog was thick.
I get to my clearcut of choice and I cant see 40 yards. While I am there I watch a handful of trucks drive by. I drive down the road a little trying to lose some elevation and get out of the fog, but the problem is all I can see is a truck on every landing. :depressed: I finally spot a doe and fawn but they are spooky as there is a truck right above them.
Finally I get tired of all the traffic and head back up the hill towards the fog again trying to get away from the people. The first 3 landings I get to on this upper road all have a truck on them and you cant even see off the landing due to fog.
I get to a small unit that I have never seen a deer in before. It is a very steep unit that the road comes in on the top of. The unit drops off very fast to a flat in the bottom. But nobody was parked on it so I pulled out to the landing. You have to walk about 40 yards over the bank to look at the unit. I rarely get my gun out of the truck when glassing clearcuts, but for some reason I took my gun with me.
I get to the spot that everybody looks from and all I can see is a wall of white. I stand there for a minute and the fog starts to disapate a bit. I can barely see into the bottom of the unit. Low and behold I see a deer standing there broadside. I can see horns thru the fog with my binos and I can see big forks. I grab the gun and try and find a spot to shoot from. The big stump there is to tall
and all the other ones have christmas trees in front of them. I finally decide I have to shoot off the side of the big 4 foot diameter stump that is to tall. I cant find the deer in the scope as the fog has thickened back up. I pace for a minute and then I can see the buck again as the fog lifts a bit. It is all I can do to make out the outline in the fog. I am hoping for a little better conditions but it doesnt happen and the fog thickens back up to the point I cant see again. I pace again for a minute or 2. Finally I can see the buck again and decide this is my chance as the unit is full of Christmas sized trees and if he takes a couple steps I may never see him again.
I prop the gun up along side the stump and want to attempt a head shot. I think it is about 200 yards but the fog is so thick the deer is hard to make out. I keep swinging the cross hairs back and forth between the shoulder and the head and I cant make up my mind what to shoot for. I finally decide to split the distance. A 300 mag does a lot of damage to a deer, but I am confident that I could hit him in the head at this distance but the fog isnt helping me. I finally line things up, take a deep breathe and hold, squeeze ever so gently and the gun goes off. I get back in the scope as fast as I can and I see nothing. The fog was thickening back up just before I fired and I dont see deer anywhere. :depressed: the shot felt great, but I didnt see it go down.
I watch for a minute or two and am hoping it didnt make it to the right around the little ridge I cant see behind. I run back up to the truck and grab my packboard and lock the door. I run over the hill trying to get closer so the fog isnt such a problem. I stay to the right so I can see the direction the deer was facing, and I finally get down the hill and around the little ridge and I dont see a thing. I poke around a little trying to see if I can find the buck sneaking out of the unit. I dont see a thing, so I head over to where the buck was standing to see if I can find any blood. I find the buck folded up like a wet rag. :smile: Broken neck.
It is time to punch the tag but I dont know what the date is. I am standing there trying to decide if it was the 4th or the 5th. I dont have a clue. My watch says it is the 4th, but that doesnt seem right. I finally remember seeing a post on ifish yesterday and it had the 4th on it, so today must be the 5th I think, I hope :whazzup:
I reach for my hunting knife and realize it is in the truck. In my haste to get over the hill I didnt get a chance to check the gear I had with me. I find a pocket knife on me that I am not sure which side was sharpened last [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]
I realize I cant skin this deer with a tool about as sharp as a phillips screw driver. I look in my packboard and no meat bags anyway, man I must have been in a hurry and my first day of buck hunting I guess I didnt get quite organized last night when I threw things in the truck. I decide I will cut the buck in half after I did a gut job and pack 1/2 out on the first trip. The hill is just too steep to drag up by myself. I cant pack the entire buck and hide. I tie on the front half and then hang several pieces of pink ribbon on the buck so some doughball wont shoot me packing a deer.
I get to the truck and get my other knife and a couple meat bags and head back down the hill. I skin out the other half and drape the hide over a stump so it looks like a deer has its head in a tree. I am sure somebody will get a rush when the fogs lifts and spots this stump with a hide.
I ranged the shot before I left as the sun had almost come out. 214 yards.
You ask about the title to the thread..... well...... My uncle got a ticket one time (before I was born) when he went thru a game check station. The gammie saw the punches from the tag on the floor of his jeep. Knowing my uncle and the stories I heard about his younger days I assume he was trying to take his buck home with no tag and when he got caught in a check station, he quickly punched his tag and stuck the tag in the deers ear. The ticket was for not immedeatley punching his tag since the punches should have been next to the spot the deer died. Since that day he eats the punches from his tag. I always liked the idea and have ate my punches also. It use to be easier before the state got these new plastic coated one, but if a gammie wants to find the punches from my tag he will have to follow me around for a few days.
Punches for Breakfast
jet
Jet~~~
Even after he caught a jack he was whining something about getting a new guide and how we were hunting next weekend for sure. 
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